


Last Fire Will Rise

by nachtmaredoll



Series: An Expression of the Heart [6]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Arson, Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Death, M/M, Mental Breakdown, Murder, Rape/Non-con Elements, Revenge killing, Violence, psychotic breakdown, why did I decide to write this omg no
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 08:53:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29168388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nachtmaredoll/pseuds/nachtmaredoll
Summary: The smell of blood and gun powder hits his nose long before he sees the cause, but once he does, Sephiroth will ensure the reason why will never see the light of day ever again.
Relationships: Andrea Rhodea & Sephiroth (Compilation of FFVII), Andrea Rhodea/Cloud Strife, Andrea Rhodea/Sephiroth (Compilation of FFVII) - past
Series: An Expression of the Heart [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2065266
Comments: 8
Kudos: 4





	1. Blood and Despair

**Author's Note:**

> CW/TW: All things horrible and bad are in this. I am not currently sure on how detailed in description of anything that I will go into, but please please mind the tags and DO NOT read past this note if you will be harmed by any of these things. 
> 
> This is by far the darkest thing I have ever written and goes beyond my normal “take care” warnings. I seriously insist that if you cannot read this, as for a highlight overview w/out details for major plot points for chapters as I post them. 
> 
> Truly: be careful and take care of yourself first and foremost. I love you all. Take care my lovelies.

He frowned as the smell of blood hit his nose, it was acrid and metallic, but _fresh_ and growing stronger the closer he got to the Inn. Narrowing his eyes, he hesitantly stepped in through the velvet curtains into the eerily deserted lobby. There was no sound filtering past the first doors, and that unsettled him almost as much as the heavy smell of blood and gun smoke. Stepping forward cautiously, he slowly stepped further into the Inn.

The sight jarred him at first, the horrid way that the dark red clashed with the black and gold—

“Sir? General Sephiroth! What are you doing here?” To his left, someone in red Elite Infantry garb stood with his weapon at rest and was asking him such questions as if he was inquiring over the weather. The disconnect was causing static in his mind.

“What… happened here?” He had yet to draw his weapon, but his materia were buzzing under his skin, warming against the leather of his gloves as his eyes narrowed and fought to superimpose better memories over what he was currently seeing.

“Raid sir. They resisted.” _So you shot them?_

“They are unarmed.” He knew for a fact that the Inn did not keep weapons around, since for as long as anyone could remember, there was always a heavily armed SOLDIER or a Turk nearby and Andi had never seen the point in needing any means of defense besides that. Even the man’s precious doll—

“They resisted sir. Heidegger said…”

_... And if Heidegger goes after either of you for it?_

“Besides, they’re only whores…” The soldier didn’t finish his words as Masamune pierced through the man’s heart.

“General?!” Voices echoed around him, but he heard nothing as he cut them all down. The bodies of the dropped infantrymen all joining the lifeless bodies of Andi’s beloved Bees on the harsh marble flooring. They deserved better, than to be side-by-side with their murderers, but he had to keep moving.

Up the backstairs, into the residential wings, he followed the tracks of blood and broken bodies. Stopping only as his boots stepped into a dark puddle outside of Andi’s door. Through the static in his mind, he registered the crumpled body on the floor was Syd—

He gently moved the brunette body aside, out of the disgraceful slump against the wall, and cautiously stepped inside the star dancer’s rooms. There was the smell of gun smoke and blood, broken glass littered the floor and nearly everything within the room was broken apart. He stepped carefully into the room, searching for Andi. Static filled his mind again, this time loud and painful enough to make him flinch and hold his head as visions of fire consumed his mind.

Turning from the room, he made his way back through, only to stop as he heard glass and metal crunch under his boot. Looking down, he frowned as his eyes caught on a triple frame of Andi with Cl—

Static filled his mind again, this time with the sounds of clashing metal as swords harshly came together in battle.

_… give... despair…_

He shook his head, ignoring the pain as he forced himself to keep moving. He still had places to search.


	2. Seven Seconds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He still has places to search—
> 
> ... By far the worst thing he’s ever done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW/CW: Rape/Implied Rape. Brutal death. Psychotic/Mental Break. Just... all the bad things. Graphic descriptions of injuries. Death/dying. 
> 
> I was going to write the other POV (Andrea’s) to this, but I simply couldn’t do it. So, you get Sephiroth’s again. 
> 
> ... one more chapter of this and I’m done with this part of this series.

Sephiroth ignored the static in his mind as he walked through the carnage of the Inn, wishing that this hadn’t happened and that he hadn’t been away on a mission. He was absolutely positive that the Director had timed this to occur for _exactly_ that reason. The man was far too much of a coward and a blowhard to have dared try this with Andi’s defenses near him.

He was quiet as he walked through the brothel halls, it had been a few years since he had walked down these passageways, but he still knew them. He could walk the path to Andi’s room blindfolded.

_You should smile more. Too pretty to frown all the time._

He winced as pain shot through his head again. He didn’t want this to be the end—

He kept walking, keeping his footsteps silent as he moved through the labyrinth towards the very heart of the brothel. To Andi’s grand suite of rooms.

The double set of doors were before him now, with a smear of blood and a handprint along one—

Static filled his mind again and he flinched as sharp pain ripped through his mind.

_… give you despair?_

Visions of fire filled his mind again, and the sharp phantom pain of Masamune’s blade running through him caused him to gasp out in shock.

_… for real?!?_

Visions of wings and a scarred cheek pierced through his mind. That was Zack’s voice… but Zack didn’t…

_… not a thing I don’t cherish!_

He shook his head again, trying to clear the fog from his mind as sharp pain ripped through it and the ghostly visage of a decaying corpse flashed before his eyes.

Shaking his head, he opened the soundproof doors and winced as blood curdling screams ripped through the silent air, piercing into his mind and ripping apart his soul. He didn’t think as he rushed through the front rooms and to the bedroom before he stood behind Heidegger and gripped the man by his hair, pulling him back from the screaming form beneath him and kept pulling the man back into an unnatural bend until the man was completely away from Andrea before he released a Gravity spell and sent the man collapsing to the floor.

He ignored the screams of the man at his feet as he looked over Andrea’s broken body. His arms were tied behind him, a shoulder blade looked shattered and at least one of the dancer’s ankles were broken.

_You’re in love with him. With Cl—_

Memories of just that Monday, of Andrea’s birthday and seeing him onstage with his precious merc, flittered through his mind as he stared down at the sobbing and broken dancer. They had just spoken of Andi getting his happy ending—

_Shall I give you despair?_

Sephiroth sighed long and slow as the words clicked into place and _lifetimes’_ worth of memories flooded into his mind. The One-Winged Angel indeed.

Turning from the bed, he conjured Masamune and impaled Heidegger directly through his neck and left the end of the blade deep within the flooring. If he could, he would display the vulgar mortal at the front doors of Shinra Tower. But he had more important things to think of.

Turning back to the bed, he gently removed Rhodea’s bindings and carefully rolled the dancer onto his back. The mortal was not going to last, he could taste the Lifestream coming for him.

_There’s not a thing I don’t cherish!_

He thought over Gaia’s Champion, over the man that had _just_ woken up from another mako induced coma, and had been about to have a happy ending with the mortal before him. 

_Seven seconds. What you do with it, is up to you._

His own words echoed in his mind, and he focused on the Curaga that was set within the bangle at his right wrist. He could feel as only a few things healed within the mortal beneath him. And he resolutely ignored the way his vision blurred at that revelation. Instead, he focused on Arise and tried to pour that into the broken body. He ignored the choked sound that escaped his throat as he felt his eyes burn with salt.

“Sephi… stop.” His focus broke as he looked down at the mortal laying on the bed. The body was covered with bruises, burn marks and wounds. Glass littered his left shoulder and arm, ending in a broken wrist. At least three ribs were broken, and from the rushing sound as he breathed, Sephiroth could tell a lung or even the mort—the dancer’s heart was punctured. There was no fixing this. No matter how much the Calamity wanted to, the mortal knew this was his end.

“I… don’t under… understand.” His voice broke as his throat closed up in a way it hadn’t since the report of Angeal’s death in Modelheim, since Genesis appeared before him and broke his heart—since he tried to kill Zack and Cloud sent him off the walkway into the mako. The _pain_ he’d felt by his friends just leaving in this lifetime were nothing compared to back then; to the pain he _still_ felt if he thought of Genesis. He sobbed as he knelt on the bed beside one of his oldest and dearest friends in this life. “I ca… can’t…”

“You _can_.” The Star of the Honeybee Inn’s voice broke, harsh and rough, and he could hear the strain of the severing vocal cords. Cloud had been _so close_ ; had even kept the Calamity from reforming. Zack had pushed and pushed at him when Genesis deserted. The Ancient had even sat in her church with her arms tightly wrapped around the One-Winged Angel’s shoulders as he broke down and sobbed when Angeal left them months later. He had _no doubt_ that the Ancient knew. Words she had said now echoed back to him and suddenly made even more sense, but unlike then, they held no comfort.

Standing, he turned and moved to the linen closet, he would _not_ leave the mortal here but he would not carry him out of this hell without some type of protection. Mako blue linen caught his eye, and he pulled out the sheets to give the mortal dancer something of Cloud. It was so close to the blonde’s eye color. He moved back to the bed and carefully wrapped his old friend in the sheet before standing and carefully carrying him out of the brothel. He cast a Regen, keeping the mortal alive long enough so he could die knowing his beloved Inn was free of the vermin. 

He knelt carefully as he laid Rhodea’s fragile body down on the hardwood flooring of the stage. He had moved and wrapped every Bee in sheets to serve as funeral shrouds, but the dancer he had left for last. Ending the Sleep and Regen, he smiled softly as those dulling green-grey eyes met his own cat-like irises. “I’m sorry.” It was all he could think of to say.

“Don’t.” He hadn’t actually voiced it, but Sephiroth knew exactly what the mortal was asking of him. Curaga and Arise were not working. He was too broken and too close to the Lifestream, already Sephiroth had hindered his peaceful return for far too long. But, he had once adored this mortal. Before the man had suddenly ended their nights together, no explanation had been given but then years later Cloud had appeared and over time he’d seen Andrea’s heart truly open. It hadn’t even been love—that had only ever been for his Red Mage.

 _You’ve only drilled it into my head_.

Those memories hurt him now, for the first time in _forever_ he could admit to having loved and lost. He could remember his Remnants, the way Jenova had taken previously unknown clones and had turned them into his living hatred. He had seen them though, briefly, and it had _hurt_ to see whom he had poured into them.

“My apologies for being late.” He cradled the dancer to his chest as he reached into his boot for the hidden tantō that he kept there, a gift from Genesis before the degradation, and prepared to give the mortal in his arms a painless death.

_Seven seconds. What will you do with them?_

“Goodbye Andrea.” He pressed his lips to the dancer’s forehead as he willed the Goddess to forgive him this and pierced the man’s heart just as blood began to pour from his mouth. Blood was in the man’s lungs, his heart was failing, and he’d lost far too much. He kept a hand on the mortal’s neck, bracing his head as he held the other over the man’s nose and mouth to speed the last spasms of fight for life. Of all his sins, this and Zack hurt the most.

As the last throb of a pulse faded away, he gently laid the body of what was once Andrea Rhodea down into his stage and let out a broken sob.

Visions of fire flooded his mind again, along with another round of piercing pain as Jenova’s visage called out to him. He ignored her.

But fire—


	3. Pray

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fabric of time and their reality is completely falling apart around her, and Aerith doesn’t know why; but she will run into that burning inferno to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW/CW: *Spoilers* Endgame Remake Elements!!! Death/Arson.

Aerith ran blindly through ash and smoke as the faint strings of a _very_ familiar melody filtered through her mind as Whispers whipped around her and she raced against the tide of the crowd running from the burning Wall Market. The Lifestream was screaming, and she could feel it all tugging at her to allow herself to be ripped away from this reality. But she _didn’t understand_ and she _had to._

Finally reaching the bridge towards Don Corneo’s empty estate, she looked up at the silver and black silhouette that stood out against the burning sky. Everything was ripping around her, tornados and Harbingers were pulling things apart.

“What did you _do?!_ ” She strained to yell over the whipping wind. Something was definitely wrong. She hadn’t seen signs of the man having another breakdown, and she hadn’t felt Jenova wake, _nothing_ should’ve caused this. “Sephiroth! What _happened?!”_

“I pray I never remember the answer to that question, Ancient.” He wasn’t looking at her, and was standing high above her, but his voice carried clearly down to where she stood. “Besides attacking Zack? It is the worst thing I’ve ever done.”

“Worst… do you _know_ …” She forced herself to breathe. He didn’t mean the worst things _at large_ , he meant in his own mind. “ _What happened_?”

“Andrea Rhodea is dead.” The words were soft, and came directly at her ear. He’d moved and somehow she hadn’t seen it. “I found him. This will end here. Or, I pray it does.”

She gasped as she felt a blade run through her, and looked down as they were each impaled upon a Harbinger’s arm, Sephiroth’s arms tightly wrapped around her and his wing shredded in his failed attempt to protect her. She whimpered as she closed her eyes and prayed.

She only faintly registered Holy’s answering call as the world faded away and they fell into the Lifestream. She held onto his hands tightly, praying to grant him his wish of never remembering this— _any of it_ —ever again. She could grant him that reprieve in return for protecting her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This part of this series is *done*. Not coming back here, I’m not doing this again. This hurt to write, but wouldn’t leave me alone and so now it exists. Any mentions of what happened will be vague at the most and *not at all* at the least. It exists, this is Andi’s nightmare in ch11 of “Broken Remnants”. Not revisiting this; ok? Ok.


End file.
